By means of switches and dials on the mixing boards, sound engineers monitor the sound input in terms of the volume, and sound quality. Other integral components of sound engineering include digital audio workstations, signal processors, and sequencing software. In movies, sound engineers and technicians incorporate the voices of actors in the movie sound tracks along with special sound effects. The movie ‘Apocalypse Now’ produced in the year 1979 is considered as a classic example of ’sound’ films till date.

Sound engineering is one of the most popular career options in the modern generation. Sound engineers can have a promising career in movie and video production, advertising as well as sound broadcasting. However, it is crucial to receive formal training and a degree from a recognized institute, which is certified by accreditation association, such as NORDING or EURING.

Sound Engineering Schools

Generally, students obtain formal education and training in sound engineering through sound engineering schools. These schools offer extensive as well as intensive training in different fields of sound engineering such as Recording and Production. Since there are a large number of schools and institutes that impart this form of education, it is advisable to select a school on the basis of certain criteria.

a.) Strength Of The Class And Amenities Offered – It is crucial to know the number of students enrolled in a program as it statistics reveal that institutes enrolling limited number of students offer better training environment. Another deciding factor is the facilities offered by the training school or institute. The Hartt School at University of Hartford (CT) restricts the number of students to thirty for its production program. This school has 6 modern studios, and is associated with the Yale theater department. As a result, students get theoretical as well as practical training in live recording.

b.) Type Of School – Students looking for a full-fledged training and career in sound engineering, can opt for schools that are specialized and dedicated exclusively to Music and Video production. Others can opt for schools that are a part of a bigger organization or University.

c.) Location – With this branch of career gaining popularity over the years, there are many institutes located in different cities that offer training as well as placement assistance.

d.) Reputation Of The School – It is important to select a school after verifying its credibility.

There are a large number of institutes that offer 12 week or 24 week courses in sound engineering. The advantage of such programs is that students can decide the pace of their program for better comprehension. Students also have the option of choosing the examination center that is convenient to them. These courses are becoming popular owing to their flexibility and convenience.

Everything was huge the back in the 80’s:  huge drums, huge guitar solos, huge hair, and so…huge reverb.  I suppose the mix had to make room for the band’s big hair.  But, alas, gone are the days of expansive, cavernous ‘verb in favor of a more natural room sound, focusing more on early reflections rather than long decay times.  Today’s trend is to make the listener sense as though the band is right in his or her face.  But some novice engineers, as well as some of us more experienced ones, can unknowingly fall into the trap of adding too much reverb, simply because they don’t hear it yet.

Although mixing engineers resist the urge to crank the ‘verb in the mix stage, the dreaded Phantom Reverb rears its head during the mastering process.  Mastering engineers use compression and limiting to increase the perceived volume of a recording.  If you think of the dynamics of a song as a mountain range, limiting and compression “cut off” (or at least “push down”) the mountain peaks (loud moments) so that they are close to, or even level with, the valleys (quiet moments).  Then everything is then pushed up together as high as it will go.  In essence, this process makes the quiet moments of the song perceivably louder, and with it, the reverb.  In the mix process, the reverb was very subtly sitting in the mix, where it was psychoacoustically “felt” more so than actually heard.  Whereas now, in the mastering process, the reverb has swollen to where it is much more noticeable on a conscious level.  While this might not always be a big deal, sometimes it can adversely affect an otherwise good mix by making it sound dated.

The key to keeping the Phantom Reverb in check is to force yourself to mix in less reverb than you think you need, knowing that it will appear louder once the track is mastered.  Another trick that I use is to increase the output volume on my reverb unit, nudge up the effects return on the console, or increase the volume on the bus I’m using for reverb in my DAW somewhere between 3-5db.  Then, when it’s time to print the mix, I’ll pull it back down.  Just don’t forget to pull it back down!

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© 2008 Butler Productions

During the 1990s the digital technology came into prominence and largely superseded the different electro- mechanical processes that were practiced before. DAW or Digital Audio Workstation became the new popular technique. The main purpose of DAW is to manipulate the recorded audio via the GUI or Graphical User Interface. It combines various high quality audio hardware and multi track software for Analog-to-Digital conversions or vice versa.

In comparison to an ordinary recording studio, an audio Mastering Studio is quite different i.e. it is equipped with more modern amenities. An audio Mastering Studio consists of various equipments like large consoles and monitoring devices that are required by the mastering engineers for various purposes.

The main processes by which the source is processed include equalization, compression, limiting and noise reduction. After getting rendered to a CD or DVD format, the source material undergoes track sequencing in the Mastering Studio. In the next level of mastering, tasks such as editing, noise reduction, fading in and out, leveling, signal restoration and pre-gapping are performed.

Besides the above processes, the Audio Mastering engineers also perform another important task i.e. the creation of a PMCD or Pre-Mastered Compact Disc. This is one of the important step that is followed in Music Mastering. Here the cohesive material gets transferred to a master disc for mass replication. In general, Music Mastering techniques vary according to the needs. The main steps that are generally followed for Music Mastering are listed below.

•    First the audio tracks are transferred into the DAW format
•    The tracks are then sequenced
•    The audio is then sweetened / processed with analog and digital audio mastering gear and / or dedicated mastering software for maximizing the sound quality
•    Then the audio is transferred to the final master format

With the changing times audio mastering via internet, the so-called online mastering, has become extremely popular. This service is a new, simple and hassle free way to work with the mastering facility of your choice. To get a musical production mastered a customer just visits the website of an online audio mastering studio and creates an account on one of the companies’ servers. The user later uploads his audio projects directly into the mastering studio. The online mastering studio then masters the music professionally. Payment is done online and the final delivery of the masters is through download. It is as simple as that!

Online-Mastering.com, the web based mastering studio, was one of the first professional mastering facilites that entirely focussed on delivering high-end audio mastering services online. More Information visit- http://www.online-mastering.com